AWB Chapter 608 concludes.
Chapter 608 concludes.
Su Tianqing's consciousness emerged from the darkness.
My eyes are too heavy to open, my head hurts, and my body aches all over. My whole body feels like it's on fire. Every time I try to move, it feels like my bones are falling apart. I can't even muster the will to get up.
Oh dear... has this fox died again? Su Tianqing thought to herself.
Her last memories surfaced in her mind, and the events before she lost consciousness flashed before her eyes: she single-handedly held off the astral behemoth Garuda, desperately trying to protect Sasha, even risking her own body to fight against Garuda's shadow assault, and finally lost consciousness in a dazzling light.
I don't know if Sasha is alright... If I still can't save her after doing all this, then I'll definitely be cursing and yelling at the Secret Codex.
"Ah, she moved! She's alive!!"
A voice that sounded somewhat familiar yet not quite familiar reached her ears—just as Su Tianqing was about to try to open her eyes, she heard a loud wail beside her:
"Waaaaaah, Xiaoyue, wake up! Don't scare me! Waaaaaahhhhhh..."
A claw, clearly different from the feel of a human hand, touched her shoulder. Su Tianqing frowned slightly, trying to identify the sensation, while simultaneously opening her heavy eyelids to look at the several tense figures in front of her—
It wasn't a human figure. On the right was a white ferret wailing, on the left was a tabby cat with a worried expression, and next to it were a gray weasel and an orange cat casting some kind of healing magic. Without exception, they were all stargazing elves who had come to Chengdu with magical girl teams from all over the world.
Su Tianqing looked down at her body and became even more confused.
Tiny fox paws, a fluffy tail, and the identities bestowed upon him by the knowledge and secrets of stargazing that surfaced in his mind... it was the real Yue Tianxin.
Why did I wake up in the body of a manual transmission fox spirit? Su Tianqing couldn't help but wonder.
But his thoughts didn't last long before the white weasel spirit beside him, who was wailing loudly, suddenly pounced on him, hugged him, and howled.
"Waaaaaah, Xiaoyue, you're finally awake! Waaaaaah..."
"Bai Ling, calm down. Miss Yue Tianxin's injuries haven't healed yet. You almost made her faint again."
The cat spirit was quick-witted and nimbly snatched the white ferret spirit away from the fox spirit. The turtle spirit, who was waiting nearby, also rushed over and together they restrained the wailing white spirit.
Su Tianqing felt that the cat was right. Bai Ling's sudden pounce had almost plunged her already shallow consciousness back into darkness, but fortunately, she didn't continue to hug her and howl, thus avoiding further disaster.
With the healing magic continuing to work, Su Tianqing felt a little more comfortable. She propped herself up on her fox paws and sat up, looking around.
Surrounded by pristine white hospital walls, he lay on a bed, completely enveloped by stargazing elves.
Not far away, on the bed lay the sleeping golden fox, Dandelion. She was covered in vital signs monitors, and judging from the data, her condition seemed quite stable. Su Tianqing thought to herself, "She'll probably be able to connect to the fox brain network once she wakes up."
So it seems that my true form is also unconscious and receiving treatment, which is why I'm staying with Yue Tianxin? The manual transmission provided by the secret manual is really intelligent.
"How are you feeling? Is there anything else that's bothering you?" the weasel spirit beside the tabby cat asked with concern.
Gray Cloud Weasel, the stargazer elf of the Wheat Ear Squad, Su Tianqing remembers her.
"I feel much better... Thank you, Senior Gray Cloud, Senior Orange, and Senior Little Flower." The fox spirit thanked them politely.
The stargazers finally breathed a sigh of relief. Bai Ling seized the opportunity to slip to Yue Tianxin's side, her face streaked with tears from her previous bout of sobbing, and said nervously:
"Xiaoyue, are you really alright? You looked terrifying when we found you behind the dandelion!"
"You stupid brat, is this the time to be saying these things?!"
The cat spirit didn't tolerate Bai Ling's lack of attention and rushed up to deliver two powerful cat punches. Although they weren't as terrifying as the Hellcat's sandbag-sized fists, they still made Bai Ling beg for mercy in pain.
The stargazers exchanged knowing smiles, and Yue Tianxin couldn't help but chuckle as well, instantly easing the atmosphere from the earlier wailing and crying.
While waiting for the main body and Dandelion to wake up and connect to the fox brain network, Yue Tianxin and the other stargazers left the ward and came to the corridor hall, where they met the gaze of the iris guarding the ward door.
"...Ah, Miss Yue Tianxin, are you feeling better?" Upon seeing the familiar fox spirit, Iris quickly stood up to greet her.
"I feel much better. Although some parts of my body are still a little numb, it's probably because I've been lying in bed for too long. A little movement helps a lot," Yue Tianxin replied with a smile.
Iris let out a long breath, turned around and glanced at Nightingale, who was fast asleep leaning against the back of the chair beside her, her face full of deep fatigue.
"Oh, I see... I'm so glad you're alright..."
"Iris, don't stay here any longer. You're exhausted today. Go find a room and rest," the orange cat sprite flew to the girl and advised.
"I'm fine. How is Dandelion? Has she woken up?" Iris gently shook her head and then asked.
"Don't worry, the Hero Association's best doctors have treated her, and Gray Cloud's healing magic is also very reliable. Dandelion should recover soon."
"That's great..." Hearing that Dandelion's recovery was going well, Iris breathed a sigh of relief, as if a heavy burden had been lifted.
But then she became worried about something else, glanced back at the still-sleeping nightingale, and whispered to the stargazers:
"Um... how is Kokoro-moon Fox doing these days?"
The stargazers looked at each other in silence.
"Well, although theoretically Xin Yuehu doesn't receive support from the Stargazers... we still went to visit her and wanted to offer some help within our capabilities."
The turtle spirit floated forward, shrugged, and said...
"But you know Iris... Hellcat is practically inseparable from Heartmoon Fox, and the aura she exudes is so terrifying that none of us dare to approach her..."
"I see, that makes sense then." Iris smiled wryly and scratched her cheek.
Let alone the Stargazers, even I wouldn't dare approach the Hellcat in its enraged state, fearing she might unleash a couple of punches, especially since Heartmoon Fox was injured and unconscious. The Hellcat's aggression would only be stronger than usual.
...But thinking about it carefully, Hellcat is actually quite easy to talk to. Most of the time, the fights are just because Hyacinth is being sarcastic. If you communicate with her properly, she responds quite enthusiastically.
But in any case, it's best not to be the one in the eye of the storm during this delicate period, Iris thought.
Although Su Tianqing was worried, she couldn't sneak over to check on Xiaoyu's situation on her own, so she had to suppress her emotions and act with the stargazers—that is, the summary meeting held at this special moment.
Iris didn't wake Nightingale; she left her a note and then followed the stargazers to the makeshift meeting room.
As Su Tianqing passed by the wards, she peeked inside. Most of the rooms were empty, but a few had a few girls lying or sitting in them. Seeing a large group of stargazers passing by in the corridor, they all rushed to the door to ask curious questions.
"Hey, Iris, and you guys, what are you doing?" Bai Lili was the first to squeeze to the door, her hands and feet wrapped in bandages, but judging from her light movements, it was obviously just a minor injury.
"Senior Bai Lili, how's your injury? Is it getting better?"
"Don't worry, I'm a Star Shadow after all, I can take a beating," Bai Lili said confidently, taking a few quick steps with the iris who had stopped to look at her, to catch up with the stargazers.
Then, with practiced ease, he reached out and grabbed the tabby cat by the scruff of its neck, pulling the shrieking cat back into his arms.
"Whoa! Lily, what are you doing?!"
"Of course I'm checking if you're hurt, Little Flower—pat pat pat pat." Bai Lili said with a casual smile, holding the cat in her left hand and petting it with her right, her movements skillful. The little cat immediately purred obediently.
The stargazers were used to this, and even the orange cat sprite came over to try and get a feel for Bai Lili's cat-petting technique, only to be kicked away by the tabby cat.
"Why are you still guarding your food?!" "This place is already full! Big Orange, go find some irises!"
The orange cat immediately turned and snuggled into Iris's arms. How could the girl resist such a plump orange cat with such a wonderful feel... it was just a bit heavy to hold.
The group quickened their pace, entered the conference room, found seats, and looked at the three familiar figures around the conference table—
Akatsuki, whose face was covered with bandages and gauze, Inari, who seemed completely unaffected, and... a winged magical girl in a jet-black dress.
"...Is everyone here?" Red Rose, who seemed to be the host of the meeting, asked.
"Let's begin our impromptu meeting. Everyone must be tired, so let's briefly explain the situation of today's punitive expedition."
Taking a deep breath and exhaling slowly, Red Rose rallied herself and said:
"The astral behemoth Garuda has been completely destroyed by us!"
A brief silence was followed by enthusiastic applause and cheers.
"Whoosh!" "I knew we could win!" "That's awesome!"
Cheers rose and fell, only gradually subsiding after a long while.
"So, the second topic is..."
Red Rose abruptly changed the subject, shifting her gaze to the nervous winged girl beside her, and continued:
"Let me introduce you. This is a new magical girl who has performed outstandingly in this Garuda subjugation battle."
"Based on her personal wishes, the currently reserved codename is..."
……
……
The meeting is still ongoing in the temporary hospital.
Above the heavens, amidst the sea of stars, the azure figure of a young girl floated calmly outside the barrier of the plane, silently watching the rift in the sky that was gradually healing before her.
It seems the situation in the real world has come to an end?
Hearing the sound behind her, the azure-blue girl turned around and looked into the distance, where she saw an irregular, dark shape.
Magical Girl Mercury—she almost immediately lowered her eyes and became extremely respectful, not daring to be negligent in the slightest.
The pitch-black object resembled a wriggling lump of soft mud, yet it clearly had a part resembling a "head," with white lines outlining a "pattern" that looked like a simple line drawing of a large eye. However, within that picture-like pattern, there was a distinct and captivating "spirit."
Before it, a giant black-patterned egg floated in the void, emitting no aura, just floating there calmly.
"The magical girls destroyed Garuda's physical form, but its connection to the astral plane remains very strong. Is that why it can return to the astral plane in this form again?" Mercury tried to ask.
The writhing, dark mud didn't rush to answer her—a black tentacle emerged from the mud, hooked the black-patterned giant egg in front of it, and slowly swallowed it. The black-patterned giant egg, along with the Garuda's aura within it, vanished instantly, as if it had never existed at all.
I'll handle this. If we let it invade other dimensions, it'll cause even bigger trouble sooner or later.
"Then... I'll leave it to you."
Don't mention it! Come visit me again sometime. See you later!
A portal brimming with magical energy opened beside the black slime, and while muttering to itself, "Should I make fried eggs or braised eggs tonight?", it disappeared into the portal.
Mercury stared blankly in the direction where it had left with the giant black-striped egg, then turned back and took a deep look at the almost completely healed rift in the sky, letting out a long sigh.
Sigh... I feel like I missed an incredible, epic battle... the girl thought to herself.